SummerSlam (2002)
SummerSlam (2002) was the fifteenth annual SummerSlam professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). It was presented by Foot Locker. It took place on August 25, 2002, at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Uniondale, New York. With this event, SummerSlam became the first pay-per-view to have events in the three major indoor venues in the New York metropolitan area. Madison Square Garden hosted the event in 1988, 1991, and 1998. The Izod Center in East Rutherford, New Jersey hosted the event in 1989, 1997, and later in 2007. The main match on the SmackDown! brand was for the WWE Undisputed Championship between The Rock and Brock Lesnar. Lesnar won the match and the championship after pinning Rock following an F-5. The main match on the Raw brand featured an Unsanctioned Street Fight between the returning Shawn Michaels and Triple H, which Michaels won after pinning Triple H by reversing Triple H's Pedigree attempt into a jackknife roll-up. There was also an interpromotional match for the Intercontinental Championship between Rob Van Dam from Raw and Chris Benoit from SmackDown!, which Van Dam won by pinfall after performing a Five-Star Frog Splash. The other matches on the undercard included The Undertaker versus Test and Kurt Angle versus Rey Mysterio. Storylines The professional wrestling matches at SummerSlam featured professional wrestlers performing as characters in scripted events pre-determined by the hosting promotion, World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). Storylines between the characters were produced on WWE's weekly television shows Raw and SmackDown! with the Raw and SmackDown! brands—storyline divisions in which WWE assigned its employees to different programs. SmackDown The main feud heading into SummerSlam on the SmackDown! brand was between The Rock and Brock Lesnar, with the two feuding over the WWE Undisputed Championship. On the June 24 episode of Raw, it was announced that Lesnar would face off against the champion at SummerSlam. At the King of the Ring, Lesnar defeated Test in the semifinals, then during the latter event he defeated Rob Van Dam in the King of the Ring tournament to earn the right to face the WWE Undisputed Champion at SummerSlam. At Vengeance, the pay-per-view one month before SummerSlam, The Rock defeated The Undertaker and Kurt Angle in a triple threat match to win the WWE Undisputed Championship by pinning Angle after executing a Rock Bottom. On the July 25 episode of SmackDown!, during The Rock's WWE Tag Team Championship match against The Un-Americans (Lance Storm and Christian), Lesnar interfered by nailing Rock's tag team partner Hollywood Hulk Hogan with an F-5. Due to Lesnar's interference, Rock and Hogan won the match by disqualification, but not the title. On the August 8 episode of SmackDown!, Lesnar would put his SummerSlam title shot on the line against Hogan with the stipulation added that if Hogan were to defeat Lesnar, he would face The Rock in a WrestleMania X8 rematch at SummerSlam for the WWE Undisputed Championship. At the end, Lesnar locked Hogan in a bear hug. When Hogan kayfabe passed out, the referee stopped the contest. After the match, Lesnar then nailed Hogan in the head with the steel chair, causing Hogan to bleed. The following week on SmackDown, The Rock took on the Intercontinental Champion Chris Benoit in a "Champion vs. Champion" match, which again involved Lesnar. During the match, Lesnar taunted The Rock while Rock was placed in the Crippler Crossface by Benoit. The Rock, however, was able to defeat Benoit following a Rock Bottom. On the final episode of SmackDown! before SummerSlam, after The Rock and Edge defeated Benoit and Eddie Guerrero in a tag team match, Lesnar appeared for another stare down with The Rock, which led to a brawl between the two that ended the show. On the July 25 episode of SmackDown!, Rey Mysterio made his WWE debut by defeating Chavo Guerrero. On the August 8 episode of SmackDown!, the team of Mysterio, Edge and John Cena defeated Chris Benoit, Eddie Guerrero and Kurt Angle when Mysterio pinned Angle. The following week on SmackDown!, Angle insulted Mysterio during a backstage interview and Mysterio confronted him and challenged him to a match at SummerSlam, which Angle accepted. Later that night, Mysterio attacked Angle after his match against Mark Henry and delivered a 619 to Angle. On the final episode of SmackDown! before SummerSlam, Mysterio cost Angle a match against Billy Kidman by attacking Angle. Raw Another feud heading into SummerSlam was between Shawn Michaels and Triple H. At Vengeance, Michaels returned after being out of wrestling (due to a back injury) for four years. Triple H was given the choice of deciding which brand he would appear for, Raw or SmackDown!, and Michaels helped him decide by offering to reform D-Generation X (DX) on the Raw brand. Triple H chose to go to Raw, but the following night, as Michaels and Triple H were in the middle of reforming DX, Triple H turned on Michaels by nailing him with the Pedigree. On the July 29 episode of Raw, Michaels was found in the parking lot, laying motionless following an ambush assault. He was also bleeding from the head due to someone putting his head through a car window. The next week on Raw, a security camera revealed to be Triple H that had attacked Michaels from behind. Triple H told Michaels that he did it to prove a point that Michaels was "weak". Michaels then told Triple H that he wasn't 100%, but he would be at SummerSlam. On the August 19 episode of Raw, Raw General Manager Eric Bischoff announced an Unsanctioned Street Fight between Triple H and Michaels for SummerSlam then later that night, Michaels interfered in Triple H's non-title match with The Rock and assaulted Triple H. At the beginning of the show, Brock Lesnar brought a front-row seat ticket to watch the main event between Rock and Triple H, but even when Lesnar tried to interfere on Triple H's behalf, Michaels delivered a Sweet Chin Music on Lesnar. Michaels then leaped on top of Triple H and the security and ended the show by knocking Triple H down, sending a clear message that he is not weak as they headed into their match at SummerSlam. Rob Van Dam and Chris Benoit, meanwhile, had been feuding over the Intercontinental Championship since Benoit won it on the July 29, episode of Raw. Shortly after this match, Benoit took advantage of what was referred to as "open season" on wrestler contracts and took his title with him to SmackDown!, where he had originally been drafted. Benoit was still required to defend the title against a Raw roster member at SummerSlam and Van Dam defeated Jeff Hardy on the August 12 episode of Raw in a match to determine the #1 contender. Aftermath On the August 26 episode of Raw, due to the requirements of the WWE Undisputed Championship being defended on both shows, Raw General Manager Eric Bischoff expected Brock Lesnar to be able to return on Raw the next night. Lesnar and SmackDown! General Manager Stephanie McMahon appeared to announce that Lesnar's contract only required him to defend the title on SmackDown!; subsequently Bischoff established the World Heavyweight Championship as a separate world title. On the September 2 episode of Raw, Bischoff awarded Triple H, Raw was designated number-one contender, the World Heavyweight Championship in the form of the Big Gold Belt. The Undertaker went on to challenge Lesnar for the now renamed WWE Championship at Unforgiven, and again at No Mercy in a Hell in a Cell match. Shawn Michaels would return full-time to the ring at Survivor Series and win the World Heavyweight Championship from Triple H in the first ever Elimination Chamber match. After the broadcasting of the event had stopped after the main event, former Undisputed Champion The Rock was visibly angry at the crowd reaction. The Rock had faced a negative response from fans during the main event. When he tried to do a post-show speech for the crowd, the fans attending the Nassau Coliseum would still boo him. He eventually cut a promo, declaring that "sing-along with The Rock is over", before taking a six-month hiatus from WWE, and did not return until late February 2003, as a heel, when Mr. McMahon booked him in a WrestleMania X8 rematch with Hulk Hogan at No Way Out. Results Other on-screen personnel See also * List of WWE pay-per-view events * SummerSlam Category:SummerSlam Category:World Wrestling Entertainment pay-per-view events Category:2002 Pay-Per-View Events